Lion default to spark off Wine War II

MONTANA: Who keeps it?

A fresh bidding war is the most likely outcome of Lion Nathan's Montana misdeeds.

At press time Montana's independent directors had still to prescribe Lion's punishment for jumping the gun in its takeover battle with Allied Domecq.

The directors - deputy chairman Barry Neville-White, Bryan Mogridge, Peter Coote, and Hylton Le Grice - will determine how many of Lion's 133.1 million Montana shares must be sold. But the brewer's fate ultimately lies in the hands of the Stock Exchange's standing committee, which has said only 21 million of Lion's shares were acquired in breach of the exchange's listing rules.

The decision could re-open the bidding war with Allied on a more equal footing, forcing Lion to bid for all of Montana and pay a much higher price than it has paid until now.

Lawyers see dangers for the directors of both Lion and Montana in pursuing an aggressive line.

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